Ozara's room was rather gloomy when Leiana entered it. The curtains drawn, giving it an unusual dark and depressing feeling – just how Ozara wanted it. She felt depressed.
"Leave it on the table, Bethe." the girl muttered from the chair by the fireplace, "I'll get to it in a moment."
Leiana raised an eyebrow at the appearance of her sister, "As you wish milady. Would you like me to get all this gloom out of here while I'm at it?" she queried.
Ozara's head snapped around so fast, it looked as if her neck might snap. "Leia?" her voice came out strained and hoarse, without a second thought, she bounded out of the chair and embraced her sister awkwardly due to the tray. "Leia! When did you get here?"
Her sister chuckled, "Careful!" she exclaimed, placing the tray on the table "Not ten minutes ago. Father was convinced that you were going to be at the Solo's, so they're over having dinner." she continued, looking around. "My word, I have never seen you like your curtains drawn. I thought you liked light in the room – at least that's what you've always said." without even thinking about it, she moved toward the windows, pulling the curtains back. Ozara squinted at the sudden brightness of the room, "What?" Leiana inquired when the bride mumbled incoherently.
"Nothing." Ozara replied simply, observing Leiana a little more closely, "Is something wrong?" she asked.
Leiana's face was impassive, but it was her hazel eyes betrayed her face as they burned with irritation as she observed that Ozara looked as if she had been in bed for several hours. "Why are you in your nightgown?" she asked, "Bethe told me that you were out today."
Ozara looked at her, then down at herself, she shrugged. "I was going to go to bed early. I wasn't feeling too well." she said, muttering something about cold feet.
"Oh?" Leiana's voice was terse, obviously hiding some other emotion.
Her sister sighed, sitting back down at her chair from before. "What is it Leiana?" she asked, "You rarely are so mysterious."
Leiana moved to Ozara's chair, sitting down in the chair opposite. "You look miserable."
"Do I really?" Ozara said with a humorless chuckle, "I wonder why that is?" her voice was distant, as if she was musing her own question – but her face showed irritated exhaustion. She knew why it was.
"Yes, you do." Leiana replied, "Why are you marrying him Zar?" she asked, finally getting where she wanted to go.
Ozara's brown eyes turned to her slowly, empty and vacant. "I don't know." she said in a small voice, "He asked me, and I accepted."
"You're not happy." Leiana stated.
"Whatever gave you that impression?" Ozara asked as Leiana snickered and motioned with her hand the curtains, disarray of the room, and Ozara's nightgown. "That doesn't mean anything." the girl snapped back.
"You're marrying tomorrow, Zar. And look at you! Your skin is paler than normal, your eyes are sunken in, you've been spending your time in a gloomy room, and your normal chipper personality is vanquished. Oh yes, you are completely enthralled at your upcoming nuptials." Leiana said sarcastically, earning a slight smirk from her sister.
"I'm just tired. I haven't been sleeping well at all." Ozara replied.
"Why?" Leiana asked, followed by a quick: "Because you know you don't love him?"
Ozara's black eyes trained on her sister, unblinking. "Who said that? I – love him." she choked out.
Leiana chuckled sarcastically, "I could have sworn that you and Skandar were never on good enough terms to marry. How in the galaxy did he change your mind?" she asked.
"Stop it Leia. I'm not in the mood to argue with you." Ozara said defeated, "I love him well enough. And we have always been on good terms."
"Not since you went to Alderaan you haven't been. The only reason you have tolerated him is because he's your only friend, and you don't want to lose that." Leiana replied, "Who told you?"
"Who told me what?" Ozara asked with a sigh, running a hand through her dark brown hair, which was tangled from who knows what.
"Who told you that Anakin was being expelled?" the older girl asked, becoming a little more forward. She had to tell her before she got idiotic. The problem was – how? Ozara didn't answer. "Zar?"
"Why did you bring that up?" she asked. "Why can't you leave Anakin out of this?"
"Because you love him." Leiana stated simply, but instead of Ozara proclaiming that she was right, the girl stood up with a scoff, walking over to where the tray was. "He loves you you know." Leiana continued.
Ozara spun on her, "Don't you think I know that!" she hissed, "Don't you think that I wish I wasn't so cowardly as to do what I don't want to do? Do you think that I don't know that Anakin loves me, and I would do nothing more than marry him if I could?" she closed her eyes and sighed, "I'm not ignorant Leiana. Neither am I conscienceless!"
Leiana stood up and walked toward her, "Why are you marrying Skandar then?" she repeated.
"I have no choice." Ozara replied, "I will not destroy the man I love." she said, happy that she could say something to someone and not keep it all in.
"There is always a choice." Leiana replied, "And you're making the wrong one."
Ozara laughed maniacally, "Oh?" she asked, "And I suppose that I should be like you? Unable to love the man that you do because he's clueless. Sometimes I wonder, my dear sister, if we are cursed. You and I have both fallen for men we cannot have under any circumstances." her voice was laced with all the stress from the last few days, "You have no idea what its like to be me. You know nothing about it." she snapped.
Leiana stood dumbfounded for a moment, she had never heard her sister speak so spitefully about her or Obi-Wan – encouragement had always been who she was and how she was. To hear the words so cutting came as a shock. "You're wrong." she said quietly, "You're wrong about Obi-Wan and I."
"Oh? Has he gone and been a fool like Anakin was? Did he kiss you in front of a room full of people?" Ozara said bitterly, it wasn't that she blamed Anakin for the state of events – she blamed herself, "I was unable to stop him." she said, "I didn't have to kiss him back."
"But you did." Leiana replied, "And now you're going to go and break his heart."
"Better a broken heart than a broken life." Ozara retorted quickly, "He'll get over it." her heart felt stabbed when she said it, she didn't want him to get over her – but it was for his own sake.
"Who told you he was being expelled?" Leiana returned to her other question, trying to be as calm as possible.
"It doesn't matter." Ozara replied turning out to the veranda.
"Whoever it was, they're wrong." Leiana continued, "I spoke with Obi-Wan. Anakin isn't going to be expelled."
Ozara turned toward her, a puzzling look on her face. Padmé wouldn't lie to her... would she?
"Who told you Ozara?" Leiana repeated herself.
The bride-to-be sighed, her brows furrowed together, a question she had never thought of before was now on her mind – how did Padmé know?
"Zar?" her sister's voice brought her out of her thoughts.
"It doesn't matter." Ozara answered after a few minutes, "Obi-Wan was wrong. He had to be. He wouldn't know."
"He knew. He said that Anakin's expulsion was ludicrous." Leiana replied.
Ozara shook her head "I don't believe you" she spat, "Obi-Wan wouldn't know."
"Oh? And I suppose your source would?" Leiana snapped back.
Her little sister's eyes widened, glimmering in unshed tears and lividness. It was obvious that she was about to retort with something truly cutting.
At that moment, however, the sound of Tristan and Nadia coming home reached their ears. "Leiana! Ozara we're home!" Tristan's booming voice sounded, "Where's the bride?"
The sisters gave each other a look, and Leiana moved toward the bedroom door.
"Tell mother and father I'm going to bed. I won't be down." Ozara said.
Leiana scoffed, "Anything else, Milady. Shall I also tell them that you are suffering from a lapse of judgement? Believe me or not, Ozara. Anakin is safe and sound." she said.
"You don't know that for sure." Ozara replied, her eyes set in firm determination. She was worried that if she hoped too much at Leiana's words, and Leiana was wrong, that what little of her heart would be smashed to bits.
Leiana shrugged, "Very well. You can ask Qui-Gon when he gets here then." she said, watching as Ozara's face expressed shock.
"Qui-Gon's coming?" she asked.
"Yes. I'm sure he'd be perfectly happy to set either you, or I, straight on the matter." Leiana replied, slamming the door behind her.
Ozara glared at the closed door, not wishing to express her own fears.
The transport from Naboo to Ergon was taking forever for Anakin. The words of Obi-Wan's holomessage echoing in his mind.
"She's getting married... Skandar... someone told her you were being expelled.. I don't know why... come quickly... Benduday"
Anakin walked around the transport, trying to sort out his thoughts. She loved him, so why was she getting married to anyone else? And Skandar, of all people! He never did like him, but what would drive her to do such a thing?
'Someone told her you were being expelled' but who? It wasn't as if anyone other than the Council would know – as it was, he knew he wasn't being expelled, so who would tell her such a preposterous thing! He always knew she was somewhat gullible, but this was ridiculous.
He wanted to lay down, get some sleep, but he couldn't seem to make his mind stop from going a mile a minute; his thoughts ever more racing. What Obi-Wan had said left him with plenty of unanswered questions. He sometimes wished that he had not told Skandar to get her off Geonosis, if she had stayed he would have been with her and made sure nothing like that would happen. She would never have thought he was being expelled because she would have been with him – Who told her that anyhow?
He approached one of the pilots who was at the food bar, and asked how long until they reached Ergon.
"Not for another two hours." the man replied.
"Two hours?" Anakin asked, perhaps it was his anxiety which made the trip seem like it was taking forever.
"Yes. Anxious to get somewhere?" the man asked.
Anakin scoffed, "Yeah. Yeah I am."
The brown eyes of the man in front of him appeared gleeful, "A girl?" he asked, Anakin nodded slowly, "I thought you Jedi blokes were not allowed to have girls."
"We aren't." Anakin said bitterly, "She's my friend."
"Ah." the stranger said, running a hand through his shoulder length brown hair, "And why are you in such a hurry to get to her side, if she's just a friend?" he asked.
"She's getting married." Anakin replied, not quite sure why he was trusting this stranger.
"Married?" the man repeated, his low chuckle reminding Anakin of Tristan Peregrine. "Congratulations to the bride, then." Anakin scowled. "Unless..." the man continued, "You're going to stop the wedding aren't you?"
Anakin just glowered, answering the man without words. He laughed, "Well, well. That's the first time I've ever heard of one of those. Why is she marrying him?"
"Beats me." Anakin replied, the man just chuckled some more. "I'm stopping her from making a grave mistake."
"And the mistake is marrying a man who's not you I suppose." the pilot replied through a mouthful of food, he swallowed, "She must be some girl."
"She is." Anakin replied.
"What's her name, lad?" he asked.
"Why should I tell you?" Anakin snapped back. "Besides, who are you to call me 'lad'? What are you? Thirty?"
The man just laughed again, "Thirty-two" he answered, "Come on, its not like you're likely to see me again. And I promise I won't tell anyone at the Jedi Temple that you're off to stop your sweethearts wedding – mostly because I can understand you. My wife was about to marry another when I showed up – actually, she was already married when I showed up." he corrected himself.
"Ozara." Anakin answered softly, smiling to himself.
"Sorry, what was that? I didn't hear you." the pilot said.
"Ozara" Anakin replied a little louder.
If the Jedi had been looking at his companion, he would have noticed him stiffen when he heard Ozara's name. "Ergonian?" he asked.
Anakin nodded, "How'd you know?" he asked.
"I'm from Ergon. I know the naming system." the stranger replied.
"You're from Ergon?" Anakin asked, suddenly aware that he had probably just compromised who Ozara was – meaning that if he wasn't expelled now, he would be soon.
The man chuckled, "I haven't been there for fifteen years." he said, "The only reason I'm on this damnable transport is because my normal routine got re-routed due to that skirmish on Geonosis. After this, I'm back to my old routine."
Anakin felt like chuckling, if only this man knew that he was sitting next to someone who was on Geonosis. The man finished his meal and stood up.
"Well, lad, I'm off. I hope you succeed in your endeavor." he said.
"The name is Anakin." the Padawan replied.
The man chuckled, "Very well, Anakin. I hope you get your Ozara away from a loveless marriage." he made to leave but Anakin stopped him.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Varian. Varian Rover." and with that he was gone.